Method of making textured sports ball

Abstract

A sports ball (10), such as a football (12), has outer panels (14) of leather. The outer panels (14) have embossed pebbles (16) to enhance grip. Each outer panel (14) is formed by embossing the pebbles (16) on a segment (54) forming one or more of the outer panels (14) after the segment (54) has been cut from the unembossed full hide or half hide from which it comes. This provides great advantages in flexibility and consistency of manufacturing in addition to improved performance such as grip and aerodynamics.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of making a football formed by four outer panels sewed together at their edges from a full hide or half hide of unembossed tanned leather, the hide having variation in density between at least a first density and a second density, comprising the steps of:
 cutting the four outer panels from the full hide or half hide of unembossed tanned leather suitable for making the football, the unembossed leather having a surface, leaving a remainder of the full hide or half hide; 
 sorting the four outer panels by density to create at least a first group of outer panels of first density and a second group of second density; 
 subsequently embossing the surfaces of the outer panels of the first group with a first predetermined pressure to form pebbles on the surfaces to make the surfaces suitable for sports play with the football and embossing the surfaces of the outer panels of the second group with a second predetermined pressure to form pebbles on the surfaces to make the surfaces suitable for sports play with the football, with the first and second predetermined pressures being adjusted relative each other to ensure the pebbles on both the outer panels of the first group and the second group are uniform; and 
 assembling the four outer panels to form the football. 
 
     
     
       2. The football formed by the method of  claim 1 .